Japanese researcher Ryuma Niiyama’s robot is quite literally making
strides in the field of robotics. His running robot, named Athlete, can
only make three to five steps before falling down, but the bipedal
robot’s gait is remarkably un-robotic, stemming from a musculoskeletal
design that mimics human biology. With some further refinement, Niiyama
may just create a robot sprinter that moves with agility and explosive speed of a human runner.